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En Gedi is an oasis on the west bank of the Dead Sea a little north of Masada. It has been perserved as an Israeli National Park. In an area that gets about 1/4 inch of water a year, it has water, water falls and plant and animal life. The water comes underground from as far away as Jerusalem. We hope that the pictures will help you get a feeling for how much we enjoyed our hike in En Gedi. Make sure you have your hiking boots and are ready for a climb. |
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Our hike began at this visitor center. |
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We follow a stream with numerous little water falls and ponds like those shown here.
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But in addition to the small falls, there are some magnificent ones like the one below and the one on the right.
The picture on the right is actually the panorama made of two pictures. The falls were too tall for just one picture. |
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In addition to the stream and falls we enjoy views of rock formations ...
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and some plant life. This plant is a caper berry. |
We see some animal life as well. This is a rock hyrax. Our guide says it was something like a rabbit but it doesn't have long ears and likes to climb out on branches. |
Clearly its coloring tends to make it disappear in the surroundings. |
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It is easy to notice this unusual rock. But what you might not notice is that it served as a home for the rock hyrax. |
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Our guide tells us that there is a second animal that he hopes we will see. But we have to wait until we have finished the hike and are walking to the buses. This is a male Ibex. The guide compares it to a deer. We think it is more like a goat. |
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There was one other lasting memory of En Gedi: There were an number of youth groups on a nature hike. In Israel, youth groups on field trips must have a medic/guard with them. Only soldiers and former soldiers can carry guns. Many of the medic/guards were retired men earning a little extra cash. Obviously this one is neither male or retired. |
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Copyright 2010 James and Danielle Brink. Permission is given for non-commercial use.
Last revision: 4/5/2010